Who Do You Love?
by Just-Absolutely-Super
Summary: [Written for Tumblr's NaLu Week 2015-original prompt] A late night inquiry leads to late night confessions.


**Notes:** Another oneshot I wrote for Tumblr's NaLu Week 2015. This one is an original prompt of mine (because I couldn't think of anything else for the prompts given...) and I liked how it turned out so I hope you guys do too.

 **Disclaimer:** Don't own Fairy Tail.

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"What would you say if someone told you they loved you?"

Natsu turned on his side of the bed they were sharing to look at his blonde partner. He, Lucy, and Happy were on their way to a job, and after much pleading from Natsu, the other two decided to spare him a long, grueling train ride and walk to the village their client resided. It would take a day's journey, so the three stopped at a small inn to spend the night. The money they had on hand was only enough for a room with one bed, leaving Natsu and a reluctant Lucy to share with Happy lying peacefully at their feet.

"Depends. Who loves me?" was his reply.

Lucy opened her mouth to reply then quickly closed it, biting her lip as she appeared to be contemplating her answer. Finally she said, "Erza."

Natsu scrunched up his nose and raised his eyes to the ceiling in thought. Then he answered, "Erza's great and all, but she's more like my big sister. So I'd probably let her down gently. Though, I'm not sure she'd react gently to a rejection…" he added with a shudder.

Lucy giggled, "Maybe you should give her more credit." She then shifted her position to get more comfortable, "What about Mira?"

"What would I say if Mira told me she loved me?" after Lucy nods to him he continued, "Same thing as Erza, though Mira's kinda more like a mom than a sister."

"Cana?"

" _Definitely_ a sister. One day she told me that if I ever got my heart broken—or something like that—to let 'Big Sis Cana' know so she could kick their ass all the way to Bosco," he recalled, laughing to himself, "although she was a little tipsy when she said that."

Lucy laughed along with him. Yep, that sounded like something Cana would say, "I'm sure she meant it."

When their laughter died down, they lied where they were for a few minutes. Natsu was feeling himself drift off before Lucy's hesitant voice brought him back to wakefulness, "Lisanna?"

"What about her?"

"What would you do if she said she loved you? I've heard some people say you had a crush on her when you were younger," she sounded nonchalant as she said it, but Natsu could pick up a nervous edge to her voice. He shrugged as he answered her.

"Maybe I did, I don't know. I never really paid attention to stuff like that. But I'd turn her down too."

"Because she's like your sister?"

"Yeah, basically," he shrugged.

"I see," she said, absentmindedly tracing patterns into the bed sheets, "Juvia?"

Natsu raised his eyebrow at Lucy, a deadpan look on his face, "Really Luce?"

She giggled as she responded, "In an alternate universe where she never fell in love with Gray and fell for you instead. What would you say?"

Natsu rolled his eyes but answered anyway, "I don't know. I'm not sure what alternate universe me is like. Maybe we get along and talked every day and I fell for her too. Maybe she got on my nerves so I couldn't feel anything for her. Maybe—"

"Natsu."

"Okay, okay. If the _only_ change is her loving me instead of Gray, then no, I wouldn't say I loved her back."

"Why?" Lucy asked. She expected him to say he thought of her like a sister too—there was this same pattern after all—and maybe talk about her overzealous and clingy nature being too much for him. What she didn't expect was what really came out of his mouth.

"She's not the one I love."

Lucy widened her eyes, her heart skipping a beat, "You _do_ love someone?"

Natsu gave her the look he always gives her when he thought she was being weird, "Well, yeah."

"Who?" she demanded, heart pounding. She had named most of the girls in the guild, and he said he wasn't interested in them. Could it be someone else who is a part of Fairy Tail? Or someone from another guild perhaps? Who could have possibly stole the Salamander's heart?

Instead of answering her like he had been doing, Natsu smirked, "Can't tell. It's a secret."

Lucy puffed out the breath she had been holding and pouted, "Fine," she said begrudgingly. Even though she was _dying_ to know, she had to respect her best friend's right to privacy.

A couple of minutes passed without either saying anything. Lucy took this as her queue to try and get some sleep for tomorrow's trek. As she rolled over and closed her eyes to try and fall asleep, Natsu's voice stopped her.

"Hey, Lucy?"

"Yes, Natsu?"

"What would _you_ say?"

She turned back over to face him, "What would I say to what?"

Natsu gave another eye roll, "What would you say if someone told _you_ they loved you?"

Lucy smirked at him as she echoed his words from before, "Well, it depends. Who loves me?"

Natsu looked up to the ceiling as he named off a few people, "Gray, Loke, Elfman, Gajeel, Laxus, and… Mest."

Unable to help herself, Lucy scooted closer to Natsu and the heat he was radiating. With her smirk forming into a small smile she replied to him.

"Gray's nice and all, but he's more like my older brother than a love interest. As for Loke, I appreciate his devotion to me as my spirit and friend—and maybe if he got rid of his womanizing habit it could work—but at this moment, I just can't see us taking the relationship we already have further. Elfman," she outright laughed at this point, "please! Have you _seen_ the way he looks at Evergreen? That man is smitten!"

Natsu laughed as well, scooting himself closer to the blonde as she continued down the list, "Believe me, I am _not_ Gajeel or Laxus' type—or rather, they're not _my_ type. It just wouldn't work. And Mest is nice, he seems like he'd be a good boyfriend, but I would turn him down."

"Why?"

Now Lucy went back to smirking at him, his words once again echoing back to him, "Because he's not the one I love."

Natsu swallowed. He knew what she would say next if he asked, but he couldn't help himself, "And who do you love?"

"It's a secret," she said, putting emphasis on the secret aspect by placing one finger over her lips and winking. She thought that would be the end of their little game, but Natsu decided to take it a step further.

"Okay, since the people we love are so secret, how about we just tell each other who it is and then keep it between us. We can even go at the same time if you want.

Lucy raised her eyebrow, contemplating this new request. This could end really wonderfully or really, _really_ terribly. "Are you sure?"

Natsu nodded, "Positive."

After letting out a shaky breath and mentally thinking over every possibility that could come of this, she finally nodded at her best friend, "Okay, let's do it. On the count of three, we say the person at the same time?"

Natsu nodded, feeling butterflies in his stomach as he said, "Yeah. The person I love is… One."

"Two," Lucy counted, feeling like her heart would literally burst from her ribcage.

"Three," Natsu counted. _It was now or never…_

"You."

Lucy blinked. Natsu blinked. There was a long beat of silence as the two stared at each other, trying to process what the other had said.

"C-Come again?" Lucy timidly asked, hoping beyond hope she didn't just imagine this.

Natsu swallowed. With a newfound determination, he repeated in a strong voice, "I said I love you, Lucy," then with a much softer voice he said, "And you said you loved me too. Right?"

Unable to contain her grin, Lucy blushed as she confidently replied, "Yes, I did. I love you, Natsu."

Before she knew it, she was pulled into a pair of strong, warm arms. His laughter reverberated throughout her whole body, causing her to laugh along with him. Honestly, it was _such_ a relief to get these feelings off their chest. After all the tension and uncertainty they've been feeling, they could finally be completely honest with each other.

Their mirth was cut short, however, by a groan and a whine from where their feet were, "Why are you two _so loud_?"

The two lovebirds looked to their feline companion, who was rubbing his eyes and giving an annoyed pout like a little kid would to his parents. Ignoring Happy's ire for them at this moment, Natsu practically yelled out, "Guess what, Happy? We love each other!" Lucy squealed and blushed as her best friend (now boyfriend?) gave her another big squeeze, and even nuzzled his face into her hair.

While the two could see Happy's own excitement for this news, the cat still rolled his eyes, complaining, "Big deal! _I_ could have told you that! And I'm a cat!" with a snicker and a sing-song _"You loooooove each other!"_ , Happy curled back up at the end of the bed and fell asleep, leaving the couple alone once again.

After a moment of sitting where they were, enjoying each other's company and exchanging shy glances and happy grins, Lucy couldn't hold back the yawn as she said, "I guess we should be getting to sleep. We have a long day tomorrow."

"Yeah, you're right," Natsu said as he flopped the both of them (Lucy still in his arms) down onto the mattress.

Despite her growing blush at the closeness, Lucy snuggled deeper into Natsu's embrace, smiling warmly as he gave her a quick peck on her forehead, "Goodnight, Lucy," he whispered, "I love you."

"Goodnight, Natsu," she told him as she wrapped her arms around him to return his embrace, "I love you, too."

And with that, they finally drifted off.

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 **Notes:** Ending's kinda lame but whatever, I like how it turned out.

Please leave me a review if you liked this! Have a nice day ^^


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